Where did the "Store Room" go???

I am smack dab in the middle of various "To Do" projects (yet again) and have not had any decent time to blog recently.
I've just realised that here I am in a new year and I haven't had the chance to write a post about my project I completed two summers ago (2016) ....wow where does the time go?

Way back when after my daughter moved back home, she came with all her"stuff" and took over my chill out room and turned it into her "store room".  I have posted about it here.
Living on the lower level of the house we have always been plagued with a moisture problem.
The house is situated basically in a waterway and when the rain falls the water just pours down the driveway like crazy making its way to the watercourse that runs adjacent to my wall.  If this moisture does not dry out fast enough, the mold and fuzzy fungus grows in small patches on the "store room" wall.
The room was originally my dad's workshop where he worked his magic on making, fixing and restoring items to their former glory but with a new twist.  My dad was a blend of Tim the Tool Man Taylor (of Home Improvement fame) and MacGyver.  His mind worked overtime in formulating all kinds of tools to make life easier for us.
This room had three internal walls and one exterior wall that was the problem wall of moisture hell.


After daughter dear and I moved downstairs, I treated the first two bedroom exterior walls with a moisture retarding product called Xypex....that was many many years ago and the walls are still holding strong....no sign of moisture.

The last wall that remained to be treated was the "store room" wall which was on my To Do list for many years....until two summers ago.
As you know my daughter had moved into her dad's house after he passed, but she still had a ton of her stuff left here in her "store room".
I gave her three weeks to get her stuff out, and then I got started.

I began by scraping the old paint off the wall.  It was already peeling and looked like it would have been an easy job, but looks are deceiving.  It turned out to be a tedious job to say the least.
I'd wanted to throw in the towel many days.
I began the job with a regular metal paint scraper but then thought a heat source would help it along.  Out came my Conair hand held hairdryer to help with the process.

 It died a natural death after a day....poor thing...it wasn't cut out to work that hard.

What to do...what to do?

I purchased a heat gun and got back to work.  The heat gun took care of the job fantastically.
You know what they say about having the right tools to get a job done right....perfect example.

It took me at least two weeks to complete scraping the wall because I was only doing a few small patches at a time in between my other summer work.

Scraping and scraping and scraping....

My right wrist hurt so much after so much scraping, I kept it banded up overnight with copious amounts of muscle rub ointment to ease the pain.

EUREKA!!! One day I walked into that room and realised that I'd finally finished scraping the wall....Yeah!! and double Yeah!! Yeah!!
Then as luck would have it, into my inbox popped an infomercial email from a local distributor about a new moisture retarding product.   I decided to give it a try.
The new product was made by a Canadian company Kryton  and was based on their Krystol technology...it had rave reviews worldwide.


Called the local distributor and spoke to a very nice gentleman, Mr.Wayne Roach, who was extremely helpful, even delivering the product to my door...is that service or what?
It was time to get started.
The process  consists of a two step application....T1 and T2.
From the website:
"Krystol T1 & T2 Waterproofing System is a surface-applied crystalline slurry treatment that transforms new or existing concrete into a permanent waterproof barrier.
Krystol T1 & T2 Waterproofing System lowers the permeability of concrete and protects against the ingress of water and waterborne chemicals. It replaces the need for surface applied waterproofing membranes, and is often used in the remediation of failed membranes".
The website provided a graphic step-by-step instruction of the Krystol waterproofing system.

First the wall needed to be clean and in virgin masonry condition - check.

Surface to be treated must be pre-wet to a saturated surface-dry - check. I used a spray bottle for this step.
Mixing the product.

Krystol T1 is a cement looking powder
Mix Krystol T1 to a thick paste - 3parts powder to 1 part water. Mix till smooth.
Mix only enough that can be used within 30 minutes.

Using a concrete brush apply the mixture to the wall using an aggressive circular scrubbing motion...check.
I have no photos of this step since I was hustling to beat the 30 minute limit.
The second T2 coat can be applied as soon the T1 coat is dry and hard usually 6-24 hours. I allowed mine to cure for 48 hours.

Then the T2 mixture was mixed at the same ratio as the T1.
The wall was then dampened with a spray of water and the T2 mixture was applied in the same aggressive circular scrubbing way.
Once the T2 coating has cured and hardened (6-24 hours), the water curing treatment is followed.
Curing water applications were applied three times daily for three days after that. 

 This time I used a large basin of water and a sponge to dab the water on.

Dab, dab, dab, and don't stop dabbing.....

All the plug outlets were covered to avoid any drips into the circuitry.

Old newspapers on the floor were used to catch the moisture from the water curing process.

After the three days, I added another day for good measure and then picked up my paintbrush.
At last I could paint.

What a huge difference a little paint makes.

It was so nice to have my room back again.
Another space to decorate with love and add my personal touch....yipee!!

Another big project taken care of...two thousand more to go.
Photos of the completed room will be coming soon in a future post....stay tuned.